Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz
It's powerful stuff.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Spain, Switzerland · 1965
1h 55m
Director Orson Welles
Starring Orson Welles, Keith Baxter, John Gielgud, Jeanne Moreau
Genre Comedy, Drama, History
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John Falstaff is one of Shakespeare’s most complex and overlooked characters. He is the funny, loyal, and often drunk companion of King Henry IV’s son, Prince Hal. Here he takes center stage in one of Orson Welles’s greatest films, a superlative which makes it also one of the greatest films of all time.
Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz
It's powerful stuff.
Sprawling, and hugely ambitious, and containing a glorious Wellesian Falstaff who is as majestic in folly as he is in girth.
The New York Times by Bosley Crowther
A confusing patchwork of scenes and characters.
Entertainment Weekly by Chris Nashawaty
It’s a feast for the ears, eyes, and soul.
The one Welles film that deserves to be called lovely; there is also a rising tide of opinion that proclaims it his masterpiece.
The A.V. Club by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
The best and most touchingly personal of all Shakespeare adaptations, Chimes At Midnight is pervaded by melancholy and loneliness, even though its characters are almost seen never alone.
Chicago Tribune by Michael Phillips
Chimes at Midnight is one of Welles' peak achievements. Its depth of feeling seems very real, very deep indeed.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Playing Falstaff might have been Welles’s creative and physical destiny: in the character he found a dignity and sensuality in his, by then, overweight form. The confidence and panache of his staging is a treat.
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
It is quite likely the greatest Shakespearean film ever and, except for Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, it’s also Welles’s greatest film – which is saying something.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
A masterpiece.
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